Showing papers on "Compulsory education published in 2017"

Reshaping the Nordic education model in an era of efficiency: changes in the comprehensive school project in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden since the millennium

Abstract: The Nordic Education Model was an important part of the social democratic welfare state for many years in the second half of the 20th century. Since the millennium, transnational agencies have drawn education from the realm of politics into a global market place by advocating strategies such as efficiency, competition, decentralisation, governing by detailed objectives, control, privatisation, and profile schools. This article gives brief accounts of major trends in current school development policies, discourses, and practices in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden since the millennium, and explores how the values of the Nordic model are affected by the new policies. It is argued that the Nordic model still exists as the predominant system for the large majority of Scandinavian children at a national level, but that a number of new technologies aiming to increase the efficiency of teaching and learning are gradually undermining the main values of the Nordic model.

Computer science (CS) in the compulsory education curriculum: Implications for future research

Abstract: The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both software such as office applications, and hardware such as robots and sensors). Through uses of these applications, information and communications technologies (ICT) have focused on activities to support subject and topic learning (across wide age and subject ranges). Very recently, discussions for including computers in the curriculum have shifted to a much greater focus on computing and CS, more concerned with uses of and development of programming, together with fundamental principles of problem-solving and creativity. This paper takes a policy analysis approach; it considers evidence of current implementation of CSE in school curricula, the six main arguments for wider-scale introduction of the subject, the implications for researchers, schools, teachers and learners, the state of current discussions in a range of countries, and evidence of outcomes of CSE in compulsory curricula. The paper concludes by raising key questions for the future from a policy analysis perspective.

Conceptualising Student Voice in UK Higher Education: Four Theoretical Lenses.

Abstract: The ‘student voice’ is highly profiled in UK higher education, yet highly under-theorised. Over the past 20 years UK universities have gone from a taxpayer-funded, free at the point of use model, to one supported through tuition fees via Government-backed loans. Subsequently, there is a growth of discourse about universities as businesses and students as paying customers/consumers whose opinions and demands must be considered. This article outlines four possible theoretical lenses (or frameworks) through which student voice can be analysed, enabling an exploration of the vested interests and power relations entailed. These lenses draw on (1) research on student voice and power in compulsory education; (2) regulatory capture from Economics; (3) the notion of students voice as part of an incomplete whole and (4) non-representational theory, developed in Human Geography by Nigel Thrift.

Getting the right teachers into the right schools : managing India’s teacher workforce

Abstract: India's landmark Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009) guarantees education to all children aged 6-14 years. The Act mandates specific student-teacher ratios and emphasizes teacher quality. Writing this into legislation took seven years, but the seven years since has proven that ensuring effective teachers are recruited and placed in all schools in a time-bound manner is considerably more challenging. This report takes a detailed look at the complexity of the teacher management landscape in elementary and secondary schools in nine Indian states. On a daily basis, the administrative machinery of these states has to manage between 19,000 to nearly a million teachers in different types of schools and employment contracts, and cope with recruiting thousands more and distributing them equitably across schools. This report examines the following issues: official requirements for becoming a schoolteacher in India; policies and processes for teacher recruitment, deployment and transfers; salaries and benefits of teachers; professional growth of teachers; and grievance redress mechanisms for teachers. For the first time in India, this report compares and contrasts stated policy with actual practice in teacher management in the country, using a combination of primary and secondary data. In so doing, the report reveals the hidden challenges and the nature of problems faced by administrators in attempting to build an effective teacher workforce which serves the needs of all of India's 200 million school children. The report examines states with varying characteristics, thus generating knowledge and evidence likely to be of interest to policy makers and practitioners in a wide range of contexts.

We Can, We Know How. But Do We Want To? Teaching Attitudes towards ICT Based on the Level of Technology Integration in Schools

Abstract: Teachers’ attitudes towards technology are crucial to foster its use in schools and to improve its educational affordances and this is still a topic for research This article relates the attitudes

Inequality of educational opportunities: School failure trends in Spain (1977–2012)

Abstract: School failure is substantive in Spain. The percentage of students that do not achieve the compulsory education diploma is around 20%. School failure is higher for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Students who ‘fail’ cannot continue to post-compulsory education and, sooner or later, they have to leave formal education. The evolution of school failure in Spain follows a U-shaped curve that decreases from the seventies and rises from the end of the past century. This article explores the evolution of the impact of students’ socio-economic backgrounds on school failure from the seventies onwards and tests whether this impact increased at the end of last century. Using logit models of estimation to control for socio-demographic factors, we demonstrate that students from higher socio-economic backgrounds show fewer fluctuations in school failure than students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We also provide evidence in support of an increase in the impact of socio-economic backgrou...

Post-compulsory education in England: choices and implications

Abstract: Most students do not follow the ‘academic track’ (i.e. A-levels) after leaving school and only about a third of students go to university before the age of 20. Yet progression routes for the majority that do not take this path but opt for vocational post-compulsory education are not as well-known, which partly has to do with the complexity of the vocational education system and the difficulty of deciphering available data. If we are to tackle long-standing problems of low social mobility and a long tail of underachievers, it is essential that post-16 vocational options come under proper scrutiny. This paper is a step in that direction. We use linked administrative data to track decisions made by all students in England who left compulsory education after having undertaken the national examination – the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) – at age 16 in the year 2009/10. We track them up to the age of 21, as they progress through the education system and (for some) into the labour market. We categorise the many different types of post-16 qualifications into several broad categories and we look at the probability of achieving various educational and early labour market outcomes, conditional on the path chosen at age 17. We also take into account the influence of demographics, prior attainment and the secondary school attended. Our findings illustrate the strong inequality apparently generated by routes chosen at age 17, even whilst controlling for prior attainment and schooling up to that point.

Post-Compulsory Education in England: Choices and Implications

Abstract: Most students do not follow the ‘academic track’ (i.e. A-levels) after leaving school and only about a third of students go to university before the age of 20. Yet progression routes for the majority that do not take this path but opt for vocational post-compulsory education are not as well-known, which partly has to do with the complexity of the vocational education system and the difficulty of deciphering available data. If we are to tackle long-standing problems of low social mobility and a long tail of underachievers, it is essential that post-16 vocational options come under proper scrutiny. This paper is a step in that direction. We use linked administrative data to track decisions made by all students in England who left compulsory education after having undertaken the national examination -the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE)- at age 16 in the year 2009/10. We track them up to the age of 21, as they progress through the education system and (for some) into the labour market. We categorise the many different types of post-16 qualifications into several broad categories and we look at the probability of achieving various educational and early labour market outcomes, conditional on the path chosen at age 17. We also take into account the influence of demographics, prior attainment and the secondary school attended. Our findings illustrate the strong inequality apparently generated by routes chosen at age 17, even whilst controlling for prior attainment and schooling up to that point.

National assessment meets teacher autonomy: national assessment of learning outcomes in music in Finnish basic education

Abstract: In Finland, teachers’ have extensive autonomy, that is freedom from control by others over their professional actions in the classroom, and it is considered a strength of Finnish education. At the same time, national assessment of learning outcomes has been constructed to examine the learner's progress and achievements in relation to the criteria of the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education in effect at the time. The national assessment of learning outcomes in music was conducted for the first time in 2011. In this article, the implementation and the main results of this National Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Music, in the ninth-grade of Finnish Basic Education are explored, and the whole process is examined critically from the perspective of teacher autonomy. The article discusses how, in the assessment, the ideals of teacher autonomy challenged assignment construction and the findings and conclusions of the national assessment. The article concludes that both teacher autonomy...

Free and Compulsory Primary Education in India under the British Raj: A Tale of an Unfulfilled Dream.

Abstract: Attempts to make free and compulsory education accessible to Indian children began a little more than a century ago. A strong consciousness for the need of free and compulsory Primary Education in ...

Somali Swedes’ Reasons for Choosing a Muslim-Profiled School—Recognition and Educational Ambitions as Important Influencing Factors

Abstract: This article is about school choice strategies among a group of Somali-Swedes at a Muslim-profiled compulsory school. The study explores whether there are other reasons behind school choice than th ...

Compulsory Education and Teenage Motherhood

Abstract: Teenage motherhood is widely regarded as an important socio-economic issue. The topic garners frequent government and media attention in the UK, which is reported to have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Western Europe. This paper utilises data from the largest UK household-level survey to investigate the impact of an exogenous increase in mandatory schooling on tempo fertility over the teenage years. The results suggest a non-monotonic impact of the reform over the individual teenage years, and a postponement of fertility, with the eect of the reform dissipating by age 22. The ndings indicate strong evidence that the schooling reform induced both incarceration and beyond incarceration eects on fertility.

The contribution of PISA to the convergence of education policies in Europe

Abstract: The international comparative studies on students’ outcomes have initiated analyses that have had a growing influence on national and sub-national education policies in industrialised and developing countries. It is particularly the case of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which started in 2000 and has organised surveys every 3 years, so that the 2015 survey was the 6th. Its influence has been particularly important for several reasons: 1) it assesses the basic competences in reading literacy, maths and science of 15 year-olds students, i.e. around the end of compulsory education in many countries; 2) the assessment is based on a reliable methodology and the tests are completed by qualitative surveys and studies; 3) and the results lead to recommendations and are amplified by the media in most countries. However, it is not easy to evaluate the real impact of PISA because of the existence of other international studies such as IEA's TIMSS and, particularly in Europe, the influence of the recommendations and benchmarks of the EU that has been growing steadily in the last 25 years. Our analysis of the impact of PISA and EU policy focuses on the evolution of the education policy in France, but also studies its evolution in a few other European countries. Finally, we underline the limits of the influence of PISA and international standards in education towards a convergence of education systems because of the importance of their specific historic and cultural contexts.

Survival of Islamic education in a secular state: the madrasah in Singapore

Abstract: Purpose This paper attempts to explore the transformations taken by madrasah, especially in preparing students both in religious and academic field. Besides, this paper aims to demonstrate measures taken by madrasah in instilling the religious and racial cohesion far from conservatism and extremism that has always been labeled to their students. Design/methodology/approach This paper is qualitative in nature. It is a library research and uses historical method in collecting the data. Some relevant literatures and data have been analyzed and presented in this paper. Findings Madrasah in Singapore has always been perceived in a negative nuance because of its ineffectiveness and irrelevant roles in economic building. The conservative and traditional madrasah education system is also seen to impede Singapore’s religious and racial cohesion. The struggle increases prior to the implementation of compulsory education (CE) policy in 2001, where madrasah was almost forced to closure. Originality/value Islamic education in Singapore can be observed evolving through three phases: colonial period where it adopted the secular system, post-colonial with the traditional system and, currently, the transformation period with its integrated syllabus.

Capital multiplicity and convertibility: language minorities’ multidimensional challenges to accessing postsecondary education in Hong Kong

Abstract: Despite rapid growth at the 12-year compulsory education stage, Hong Kong’s non-Chinese language minority students make up only 1.3% of the whole full-time postsecondary student population; their attendance rate is 13.8%, far behind the overall rate of 43.8%. Policy and research focus on their secondary school graduation with a widely recognized nexus between Chinese language deficiency and academic underachievement. Yet lower participation rates in postsecondary education (PSE) and nonlinguistic risk factors that account for under-representation have received scarce regional attention. The current study attempts to fill this gap. Utilizing the multiplicity and convertibility of capital in the Bourdieusian conception, this study elicits non-Chinese language minority students’ voices and identifies the interplay effects of multiple capitals on the participants’ pathways to PSE. Findings provide insights into the dynamic processes of convertible capitals and accessing PSE when developing holistic po...

A normative justification of compulsory education

Abstract: Using a household production model of educational choices, we characterise a free-market situation in which some agents (high wagers) fully educate their children and spend a sizable amount of resources on them, while others (low wagers) educate them only partially. The free-market equilibrium is iniquitous, both because the households have different resources and because the children have different access to education. Public policy is thus called for, for vertical as well as horizontal equity purposes. Conventional wisdom has it that both objectives could be achieved using price control instruments, i.e. income taxes and price subsidies. We find instead that income taxes reduce equality of opportunity and that price subsidies cannot remedy this. Quantity controls become necessary: a compulsory education package, financed by a redistributive tax system, achieves both types of equity. Redistributive taxation and compulsory education are therefore best seen as complementary policies.

The Pervasive Influence of Neoliberalism on Policy Guidance Discourses in Career/Education : Delimiting the Boundaries of Social Justice in New Zealand

Abstract: The struggle for social justice in a neoliberal world presents particular challenges for career practitioners in schools, as they inhabit the borderlands between compulsory education and post-school life. I employ critical discourse analysis to explore international policy guidance perspectives on career/education, and examine how global expectations relate to what is happening in New Zealand. Particular attention is paid to the career education and guidance guidelines produced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education in 2009. Gaining critical insight into the multiple, complex and contradictory ways in which discourse, power, dominance, inequality and social injustice interconnect in policy guidance documents provides career practitioners with transformative and transgressive ways of reading the wor(l)d. I have utilised the term career/education and guidance, as this more accurately captures the differences and commonalities between these curriculum areas in a school context. Although I identify possibilities for practice, this is not a ‘feel good’ chapter where simple solutions are presented to address complex social problems.

The Value of Mandating Maternal Education in a Developing Country

Abstract: While several studies estimate the impact of maternal education on birth weight and child mortality using quasi-experimental identification strategies in developing countries, the state of the literature on the causal relationship between maternal education and child health is far from being complete: (i) the extant literature offers conflicting findings; (ii) the local average treatment effects of maternal education, induced by different types of natural experiments, on child health are not well-distinguished; and (iii) many of the existing articles are undermined by limited statistical power due to small sample sizes and/or a weak first stage. To fill the void in the literature, we examine the impact of mother’s extended primary schooling on birth outcomes and child mortality using two large data sets from the Republic of Turkey. We use the 1997 education reform, which extended the duration of mandatory schooling from 5 to 8 years, to address the endogeneity of maternal education to children’s outcomes. A unique feature of the schooling reform of 1997 is that, in a developing country, it arguably provides one of the most suitable empirical frameworks to identify the local average treatment effect of compulsory education among women with a low tendency to extend their schooling beyond five years of elementary school. Results show that an increase in mother’s schooling improves child health at birth (such as through a reduction in the likelihood of low birth weight and premature births) and lowers child mortality. Moreover, it improves outcomes pertaining to method of birth delivery and maternal smoking. These findings survive a number of sensitivity tests. The current study provides robust evidence in favor of the argument that increasing the duration of mandatory primary education among women who have a low interest in receiving more schooling may have substantial non-pecuniary benefits in terms of the health of the offspring in developing countries.

Learning one’s place and position through play: social class and educational opportunity in Early Years Education

Abstract: Drawing on the theoretical work of the British sociologist Basil Bernstein, this paper documents how learning is structured and organised through play in three Early Years Education (EYE) settings catering for children aged three to five in England, UK. Its data address current issues raised within EYE research relating to ‘quality and high returns’ and ‘school readiness’ for compulsory education. The analyses reveal that multiple forms of play are evident in all three settings; however, they are afforded very different status and value in each, influenced by the assumptions practitioners [in this paper practitioner is used because this is what those working in the nursery settings viewed themselves as. Although we acknowledge that early childhood educator is perhaps a more common term in certain countries] make about children and their families’ knowledge and resources for learning. The effect of such processes is the reproduction of social class and cultural hierarchies inside EYE settings, refl...

The state of development education in Spain: Initiatives, trends and challenges

Abstract: In this paper I analyse the state of development education (DE) in Spain, considering the specific context of the country, its history and the challenges it currently faces. I provide a review of the overall policy framework, highlighting the Spanish Cooperation Strategy on DE as a significant turning point in the consolidation of DE. Theoretical development is explained and the role of the main stakeholders, such as public bodies, non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) and schools are discussed. I evaluate the roles that all of these organizations have played in promoting DE in compulsory education. The conclusions assess some of the strengths and weaknesses of DE in Spain as well as some of the current challenges.

Company visits as an opportunity for entrepreneurial learning

Abstract: The research field of entrepreneurship education has emerged rapidly. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the organisation of company visits. Especially, the utilisation of companies to expand the learning environment has been largely dismissed. This study examines company visits as an opportunity for entrepreneurial learning in compulsory education. The empirical part of this study considers five cases. The informants are teachers in compulsory education. The findings show that company visits are a broader concept than previous literature suggests, and depending on the way the visits are organised, they create very different learning possibilities. The cases indicate that teachers willingly cooperate with companies, although organising company visits remains a challenge. The findings highlight the positive effects of school-company cooperation, and especially the cases where students implement the process to create significant potential for entrepreneurial learning.

Compulsory Schooling Laws and Migration Across European Countries

Abstract: Educational attainment is a key factor for understanding why some individuals migrate and others do not. Compulsory schooling laws, which determine an individual’s minimum level of education, can potentially affect migration. We test whether and how increasing the length of compulsory schooling influences migration of affected cohorts across European countries, a context where labor mobility is essentially free. We construct a novel database that includes information for 31 European countries on compulsory education reforms passed between 1950 and 1990. Combining this data with information on recent migration flows by cohorts, we find that an additional year of compulsory education reduces the number of individuals from affected cohorts who migrate in a given year by 9 %. Our results rely on the exogeneity of compulsory schooling laws. A variety of empirical tests indicate that European legislators did not pass compulsory education reforms as a reaction to changes in emigration rates or educational attainment.

The End of Compulsory Education

Abstract: Oleg Lebedev - Doctor of Sciences in Pedagogy, Professor, Department of Public Administration, St. Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg). Address: 17A Promyshlennaya, St, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. E-mail: o_lebed@mail.ruThis article is inspired by Francis Fukuyama"s book called The End of History and the Last Man. Yet, compulsory education is not regarded as a perfect model here. The existing school education system is unable to offer anything else to improve educational outcomes. The study attempts to analyze the conditions under which compulsory education developed as well as its features that impede the improvement of education quality. An alternative education system should replace compulsory education to reach a higher level of quality. The transition to third-generation education standards may create a situation where a strategic trend for general education in Russia could be finally outlined. The fundamental provisions of the article are mostly expert judgments based on a research into official documents, publications at hand, and personal experience. In addition, the article picks up the discussion on the balance between the goals and outcomes of general education initiated in earlier articles published in Voprosy obrazovaniya [Lebedev 2005; 2009; 2011; 2013].

Edufare for the future precariat: the moral agenda in Australia’s ‘earning or learning’ policy

Abstract: This paper considers the educational experience constructed under Australia’s policy decision in 2009 to extend compulsory education by requiring that students must be ‘earning or learning’ till 17 years of age. The discussion draws on an empirical project that explored the moral order operating in classrooms for students retained under this policy in non-academic pathways in high schools and Technical and Further Education colleges across three towns experiencing youth employment stress. It asks how the policy regulating these students’ prolonged engagement with formal education plays out in classroom interactions, to what end and to whose benefit. A theoretical lens informed by work by Standing and Wacquant is used to understand the contemporary moment, and work by Durkheim and Bernstein unpacks the moral work implicated in classroom interactions. The analysis describes the light curriculum and the heavy compliance demanded in these ‘edufare’ programmes then argues that in essence the policy see...

The aspirations and expectations of young people attending a Welsh-medium and an English-medium school in the South Wales Valley

Abstract: This qualitative study explores the aspirations and expectations of fifty-two young people attending a Welsh-medium and an English-medium school in the South Wales Valleys (an area which has undergone significant and economic changes as a result of deindustrialisation). These young people were first interviewed at the start of Year 11 when they were considering their futures after compulsory education. Some of these young people were interviewed again approximately a year after to explore whether they were able to achieve their aspirations and to examine whether their long-term aspirations had changed. This study illustrates how wider trends such as the contraction of the youth labour market and increasing participation rates in further and higher education as well as transformations in the local labour market have changed the way in which young people understand their educational and employment prospects. Different to some of the young people in Brown’s (1987) Schooling Ordinary Kids study, all of the young people in this study aspired to stay in some form of education and training after Year 11. This study also identifies three types of students – The Academic Inheritors, the Academic Strivers and Vocational students – which differ in terms of their orientations to education and occupational futures. There are also variations between these types of students in terms of their social background, educational experiences and the character and usage of their social networks. The different types of students highlight the limitations of accounts which present Rational Choice Theory (associated with the work of Boudon (1974) and Goldthorpe (1998)) and Bourdieu’s Cultural Reproduction Theory as opposing/competing explanatory theories. This study also compared and contrasted the aspirations and expectations of young people who attended a Welsh-medium and an English-medium school. This study shows how school choice has an impact on the social composition of Welsh-medium and English-medium schools in South East Wales, with Welsh-medium schools on average having lower proportions of students from poorer households compared to English-medium schools. School choice provides some explanation for the differences between the aspirations of young people attending the Welsh-medium and the English-medium school in this study. This study offers a new analysis of the aspirations and expectations of young people finishing compulsory education, in a context of significant social and economic change. It also makes an original contribution by exploring the aspirations of young people who attend a Welsh-medium and an English-medium school – something which has not been explored in depth before by researchers. In addition, this study contributes towards debates regarding the extent that Rational Choice Theory and Bourdieu’s Cultural Reproduction Theory are able to explain young people’s aspirations and expectations. In attempting to explain differences in student orientations, it also shows that it is extremely difficult to empirically test the relative merits of these theories and as such contributes to existing discussions of educational opportunities and inequalities. This study also has policy implications regarding how key actors such as policymakers and schools can provide support to young people to fulfil and achieve their aspirations.

Framing young people’s educational transitions: the role of local and contemporary economic contexts

Abstract: Despite rates of participation in post-compulsory full-time education reaching approximately 84% in Wales, social class inequalities continue to shape young people’s transitions from compulsory to post-compulsory education. This article draws upon data from a project which explored how young people’s educational decisions and transitions in Wales, UK are influenced by national economic landscapes, the popular narratives framing them and the structure of local employment opportunities. The analyses revealed that young people from similar social class backgrounds, but living in different localities, make very different sorts of transition from compulsory to post-compulsory education; in essence, they are either ‘pushed’ or they ‘jump’ into post-16 education. The article aims overall to contribute both empirically and theoretically to understandings of the complexity of educational decision-making, revealing how class and location intersect to frame decision-making processes, in so doing producing and reproducing educational inequalities.