Research in Comparative and International Education

Analysis of Academic Journals in Education: a comparison of publication patterns in England and Germany

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: Analysis of Academic Journals in Education: a comparison of publication patterns in England and Germany
Author: HUBERT ERTL; KLAUS ZIERER; DAVID PHILLIPS; RUDOLF TIPPELT
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-16
ABSTRACT This article outlines some of the findings of a project funded by the German Research Association which conducted an analysis of six leading journals of education in Germany and England. All articles published in these journals between 2001 and 2009 were analysed according to thematic foci, methodological approaches and characteristics of authors. The findings of this analysis demonstrate that there are clear differences and similarities in publication patters between different journals and countries and that some of these patterns have changed substantially over time. The comparative perspective used for the analysis results in conclusions regarding nation-specific trajectories of the discourse and research in the area of education.

Historical Research in Comparative Education: a discussion of some methodological issues

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: Historical Research in Comparative Education: a discussion of some methodological issues
Author: AISI LI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 17-26
ABSTRACT In this article the author discusses some issues with conducting historical research, rooted in her own experiences. She focuses on four main points: minimising one's own biases, choosing a suitable research question, evaluating the quality of the sources and providing a balanced interpretation of events. She argues that using a historical approach to understand an educational phenomenon is both a fact-finding process and an opportunity to revisit one's own values, and is an important way to confirm or reinterpret what we know about current educational practices.

Learner Success Stories: what constitutes, and contributes to, success in tertiary vocational training courses?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: Learner Success Stories: what constitutes, and contributes to, success in tertiary vocational training courses?
Author: ANN HARLOW
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 27-37
ABSTRACT In this article, adult learner experiences of embedded literacy and numeracy within vocational programmes in New Zealand are explored and described to identify what these learners felt had contributed to their success as learners. The embedded approach is a distinctive feature of the adult literacy and numeracy education infrastructure in New Zealand. Two models of data collection were used: in one model, literacy and numeracy events were recorded through photos taken by learners of their own use of literacy and numeracy practices. A follow-up interview was held where the learner explained the significance of the photos to the researcher; in the other model, focus-group interviews were held with two to six adult learners about their learning. The transcripts from both models were collated and then interrogated for themes across the stories. Learners above all valued the support they were given that enabled them to become successful - this support came from tutors, peer group, friends and families. In a few cases, learners had determined they would succeed in spite of their home circumstances and had needed extra support from the institution. Since being enrolled in a vocational course where the focus was on literacy and numeracy, within a meaningful context that offered them entry into gainful employment, these learners had grown in confidence and self-directedness, and had developed a determination to succeed. They had gained literacy and numeracy skills at the same time as developing vocational skills. Their success had led to a changed attitude and disposition towards lifelong learning.

Nurturing Young Children's Moral Development through Literature in Japan and the USA

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: Nurturing Young Children's Moral Development through Literature in Japan and the USA
Author: SATOMI IZUMI-TAYLOR; JERRIE C. SCOTT
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 38-54
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the views of American and Japanese early childhood teachers regarding the nurturing of young children's moral development using literature. The data consisted of responses to a questionnaire and written explanations of 36 American and 36 Japanese teachers. By comparing responses of the two groups, it was possible to identify both similarities and differences in American and Japanese early childhood educators' philosophical and pedagogical views on nurturing young children's moral development. Accounting largely for similarities in responses were generic items, such as beliefs in the importance of nurturing children's hearts/spirits and in the value of using literature to nurture them. Differences were reflected in particular aspects of philosophical beliefs and pedagogical practices. The study revealed that the sources of different viewpoints may be attributed to a combination of culturally specific patterns and curriculum guidelines to which teachers are exposed.

Educational Disparities and Conflict: evidence from Lebanon

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: Educational Disparities and Conflict: evidence from Lebanon
Author: RANIA TFAILY; HASSAN DIAB; ANDRZEJ KULCZYCKI
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 55-73
ABSTRACT This article examines the impact of Lebanon's civil war (1975-1991) on disparities in education among the country's main religious sects and across various regions. District of registration is adopted as a proxy for religious affiliation through a novel, detailed classification to assess sectarian differentials by region and regional differentials within each major religious group. Findings show that the civil war helped close the gender gap in education across various sects/regions, presumably because many young men joined militias. However, the education of Muslims still lags behind that of Christians. Intra-sectarian disparities remain very pronounced, especially among Sunni Muslims. The article shows that Lebanon's regional and sectarian inequalities that pre-dated the civil war have been largely maintained. The civil war and its aftermath, however, have led to some shift in the balance of power and to some changes in the ranking of particular sects and regions. Drawing upon the work of Weber and Lenski, the authors argue that sectarian/regional inequalities in education in Lebanon are the product of disparities in economic power and differential access to the state resources among the various regions and sects. They conclude by discussing the future of educational inequalities in Lebanon.

The Face of Private Tutoring in Russia: evidence from online marketing by private tutors

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: The Face of Private Tutoring in Russia: evidence from online marketing by private tutors
Author: OLGA KOZAR
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 74-86
ABSTRACT Private tutoring is a common and worldwide phenomenon. However, there is a dearth of up-to-date research on private tutoring compared with that on institutional one-to-one teaching, which could be explained by challenges associated with data collection. This article proposes using publicly available online advertisements of private tutors as a method of acquiring data on private tutoring practices. It describes a two-stage study which employed this technique to investigate private tutoring practices in Moscow city. The first stage of the study looks at the subjects which are commonly offered for tuition in Moscow city, and the second part qualitatively analyses 32 profiles of top-ranking tutors in order to identify potential attributes of a 'high-ranking' tutor. The particular focus is made on the demographics and self-presentation style of private tutors in Moscow. The findings show that while the majority of tutoring services in Moscow seem to target school students preparing for the Unified State Examination, the most frequently offered subject is English for Speakers of Other Languages, possibly due to a larger target clientele (both school students and adult learners). Other findings include a difference in self-presentation style between two groups of private tutors: those who offer school-curriculum subjects, and those who tutor foreign languages.

A Cross-cultural Study of American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood In-service and Pre-service Teachers' Perspectives of Fathering

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:49:50 GMT

Title: A Cross-cultural Study of American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood In-service and Pre-service Teachers' Perspectives of Fathering
Author: YOKO ITO; SATOMI IZUMI-TAYLOR
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2013 Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Pages: 87-101
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in perspectives of fathering among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers. The participants in the quantitative survey consisted of 67 American in-service and 277 pre-service teachers, 118 Chinese in-service and 163 pre-service teachers, 325 Japanese in-service and 350 pre-service teachers, and 105 Swedish in-service and 182 pre-service teachers. Randomly selected participants from these nations also participated in focus-group interviews. The results of this study revealed that fathers' involvement was related to hours of care for both Chinese and Japanese in-service teachers as well as for all four countries' pre-service teachers. Chinese, Japanese and Swedish teachers' perceptions of fathers' involvement were associated with gender equality. The more American, Chinese and Japanese pre-service teachers valued sensitivity of care, the more they considered fathers' involvement to be important. Qualitative data analysis found that the majority of participants valued fathers' involvement and that their cultures clearly influenced their concepts of fathering.

Editorial

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Editorial
Author: Vic Lally & Lesley Doyle
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 394-408
ABSTRACT Not available

Identity and the Transition from School to Work in Late Modern Japan: strong agency or supportive communality?

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Identity and the Transition from School to Work in Late Modern Japan: strong agency or supportive communality?
Author: AKIO INUI; YOSHIKAZU KOJIMA
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 409-418
ABSTRACT This article examines the precarious transition from school to work, considers its relation to young people's identity formation in late modern Japan, and rethinks the theory of identity formation in late modernity. Although Japan's transition system had been efficient and stable over many years, since the late 1990s this has been replaced by an increasing precariousness. The Japanese government has responded with a Career Education promotion policy to foster young people's work aspirations and attitudes in the form of an employability enhancement policy. This policy discourse coincides with a late modernist theory (as put forward by Giddens and Cote & Levine) that emphasises the importance of personal agency for young people's transitions. However, in our longitudinal qualitative study, we found that the 'transitional communities and networks' that young people encounter in their transition from school to work have an important supportive role to play. These transitional communities are important in young people's transitions from the school/college community to the workplace community. Those who had a strong sense of agency but no helpful community experienced serious depression and did not make a successful transition into work. Our case studies support Erikson's argument that community (communality) is indispensable for young people's identity formation. We conclude that both community and agency are important for successful transition in late modernity.

Education Reform in Bolivia: transitions towards which future?

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Education Reform in Bolivia: transitions towards which future?
Author: JOSÉ ANTONIO ARRUETA; HELEN AVERY
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 419-433
ABSTRACT This article concerns the impact of educational reforms on young people in Bolivian society as they transition into adulthood, against the backdrop of globalisation and far-reaching structural changes. Ethnicity and cultural capital are linked in complex ways with social stratification in Bolivia. In a pluricultural society, the language of instruction and curricular content are among the most fundamental conditions that determine which social or linguistic groups will be excluded or disadvantaged during formal education. Language and content are particularly significant in identity formation and in the shaping of cultural capital. Each contributes to the formation of specific intercultural skills and opportunities for communication within national or international communities. Additionally, each of these components helps determine which educational paths are open for young people, and which activities they can engage with later in life. In Bolivia, various education reforms have attempted to reshape these parameters. Intercultural Bilingual Education and other key aspects of the reforms will be described along with the historical context in which they emerged. Some conclusions are put forward related to their implementation.

Transition and Tertiary Education: a case study of Mzuzu University, Malawi

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Transition and Tertiary Education: a case study of Mzuzu University, Malawi
Author: PAXTON ANDREW ZOZIE; PETER BENWELL KAYIRA
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 434-445
ABSTRACT This article reviews the role of guidance and counselling in Malawi in reducing dropout and easing the transition of students to tertiary education, as well as in helping them during their time in tertiary education. It begins by identifying key success factors in guidance and counselling services for learners in both developed and developing countries. The article argues that the provision of viable secondary school careers guidance and changes to the university counselling programme could reduce the dropout rate and create a smoother transition for students during tertiary education with a positive impact on learning progression. The rationale for integrating guidance and counselling between school and tertiary provision is then explored. Drawing on case-study research carried out at Mzuzu University (MZUNI), the article presents findings on the preparation of students at secondary school for university education, the relationship of subjects offered at secondary school to courses pursued at university and the challenges faced by students as they start university and progress through the levels. The article concludes with some recommendations for enabling smoother transitions through the integration of school guidance and counselling in learning institutions.

Conceptualising a Transition: the case of vocational and academic learning in England, Scotland and the USA

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Conceptualising a Transition: the case of vocational and academic learning in England, Scotland and the USA
Author: LESLEY DOYLE
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 446-464
ABSTRACT The contention of this article is that the potentially productive developmental learning experience of the transition which young people in secondary school make between concurrent vocational and academic courses is largely unrecognised and thus unexploited. To support this contention, and to suggest a more productive way forward, understandings of, and attitudes towards, vocational learning and the rationales behind them are analysed. Following on from this, findings are presented from three related empirical studies on the experiences of young people, and their teachers, as they transition between vocational and academic courses. The findings are then conceptualised through the lens of theoretical approaches which privilege and highlight the importance of supported developmental learning, as distinct from the current focus on societal and policy rationales. Particular attention is paid to Beach's notion of 'consequential transitions'. The article concludes with an outline of the opportunities that an approach based on symbiosis between vocational and academic learning can offer for the improved acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding by young people.

Educational Transitions in the United States: reflections on the American Dream

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Educational Transitions in the United States: reflections on the American Dream
Author: PAUL T. CRAWFORD
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 465-479
ABSTRACT Education involves socialization so that individuals become productive members of society. At present, in the United States, educational transitions are primarily viewed in terms of their location in an outcomes-oriented process and framed as helping people achieve the American Dream, but in terms of the status quo national economic interest. But what about US residents who are unwilling to accommodate this particular worldview or its component ethos? Current conceptualizations of educational transitions in the United States favour economic efficiency and national security. However, new demographic realities will necessitate a revised notion of national security, one that is based on social inclusion. Consider, for example, the burgeoning Latino population in the United States. Will the current offer of education remain as valid in 2020 or 2050 when the nation has become a patchwork of minority populations? Individual choice at the moment of educational transition in the United States is increasingly framed as a zero-sum calculus: conform to the status quo or risk marginalization. The educational system is being co-opted by narratives associated with standard gross domestic product (GDP) metrics. The metrics used to guide and warrant educational policy and practice need to be widened so that educational assessment is based on the 'context of human lives'. Despite an uneven record of cultural and ethnic injustice, the United States has narrative-based resources that support social inclusion. At the heart of the nation's orienting narrative is a quandary: how to balance a sense of manifest destiny with an understanding that our future is uncertain and sustainable only by joining many human capabilities?

The Inter-Life Project: inter-cultural spaces for young people to use creative practices and research to assist with life changes and transition

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: The Inter-Life Project: inter-cultural spaces for young people to use creative practices and research to assist with life changes and transition
Author: VIC LALLY; MADELEINE SCLATER
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 480-502
ABSTRACT The aim of the Inter-Life Project was to investigate the use of virtual worlds and creative practices to support the acquisition of transition skills for young people to enhance their management of important life events. In particular, the authors have been investigating the role of the Inter-Life virtual worlds in supporting the development of life transition skills in young people, some of whom were in the care of local authorities. Creative practices, such as photography, digital storytelling and filmmaking, were used as a vehicle to enable young people to access and develop new personal and shared narratives as they worked together with researchers over an extended period on 'Interlife Island'. The Inter-Life Project created an embryonic virtual social research laboratory in order to study how young people can use a virtual world creatively, working together as a research community to develop skills that will help them navigate their key life transitions. The project focuses on how participants act and develop in Inter-Life, while engaged in co-designed creative and research activities. It also examines how the skills and understandings that were developed through a range of creative practices map onto their real-world experience. The project environments (based upon the commercial platform 'Second Life') incorporate 'in-world' data-gathering tools (as distinct from the 'transition tools' created for the participants' use) that support content analysis. Such data enable the analysis of complex activities in the virtual world using activity theory as a theoretical perspective. The skills acquired and the development of identities as young people engage in shared activities are reported and analysed. The article concludes by assessing the potential of augmented 3D digital technologies to assist young people in the social and emotional challenges of transition in their lives. It also considers the potential of 3D environments to support student transitions in higher education, with particular reference to art and design education.

Intercultural Space as Transitional Space: movements, transformations and dialectical relations

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Intercultural Space as Transitional Space: movements, transformations and dialectical relations
Author: MARIANNE TERÄS
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 503-513
ABSTRACT This article reports on research into an intervention called a 'Culture Laboratory', based on a generic 'Change Laboratory' method within developmental work research and cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). Within the Culture Laboratory, transitions can be viewed as movements, transformations and reciprocal relations, undertaken as participants attempt to improve their training in a process of observing, comparing and creating. The 17 participants in this study were students from eight different countries of origin, their teachers, other school staff and researchers. Experiences from this study would suggest that transitions are not outright movements that follow a certain path, but are rather complicated back-and-forth movements and tension-rich in-between spaces, which can enrich development and learning through creative actions.

Learning in Global Settings: developing transitions for meaning-making

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Learning in Global Settings: developing transitions for meaning-making
Author: BIRGITTA NORDÉN; HELEN AVERY; ELSIE ANDERBERG
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 514-529
ABSTRACT Global teaching and learning for sustainable development reaches from the classroom to the world outside, and is therefore a particularly interesting setting for practising transition skills. The article suggests a number of features perceived as crucial in developing young people's capability to act in a changing world and under circumstances that are difficult to predict. The suggestions are based on an empirical study of the Lund Calling project, which aimed at implementing a web-based international programme for teaching preventive environmental strategies in Swedish secondary schools. The article first presents some of the conditions in Sweden that particularly impact on young people's transition to adulthood. Related research in sustainability education is also briefly outlined. Knowledge capability theory is used to discuss results from the empirical study of the Lund Calling project, where interviews were conducted with secondary school students, teachers and headmasters. Based on these interviews, features that appear to be particularly relevant as transition skills in global learning for sustainable development include transdisciplinary action, democratic collaborative action, as well as self-directed and independent initiative. The article concludes that young people today cannot, as in earlier periods of history, base their actions entirely on the traditions of the family or community. Instead, they also need to learn to form their own communities, capable of acting at both local and global levels. Education here plays an important role in developing the necessary transition skills that enable young people to be prepared for a rapidly changing and uncertain world.

Institutional Habitus and Secondary School Transitions: comparative study of Ireland and Estonia

Fri, 4 Jan 2013 18:04:15 GMT

Title: Institutional Habitus and Secondary School Transitions: comparative study of Ireland and Estonia
Author: MERIKE DARMODY
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 530-546
ABSTRACT This article explores secondary school transitions from a comparative perspective. It focuses on a stage at which a major institutional transition takes place in two different educational systems. Over the years a number of international studies have explored different learning environments and their impact on student educational outcomes. Much of this research explores the impact of school choice and the transition from one level of schooling to another. In general, these studies refer to school transitions as a time when students are particularly vulnerable due to structural and environmental differences between different levels of schooling. In other words, the new learning environments generally have a different 'institutional habitus'. While seamless and unproblematic transition from one level of schooling to another is seen to ensure students' success at the subsequent level of schooling and beyond, negative experiences and difficulties around adjustment, on the other hand, are shown to result in disengagement and becoming at risk of early school leaving, with detrimental consequences for the individual concerned. Furthermore, different pathways within the educational systems have been found to reproduce unequal life chances. To discuss and re-theorise school transitions, the article draws on a large-scale comparative study of the transitions in secondary school in Ireland and Estonia, and utilises a conceptual tool called 'institutional habitus' to gain better understanding of the processes involved. While the article discusses similarities and differences between children's transition experience in two different countries, it also calls for a careful approach to 'direct borrowing' of practices from other countries.

Woodrow Wilson on Education

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Woodrow Wilson on Education
Author: ISAIAH BERLIN
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 274-281
ABSTRACT In this 1960 article Isaiah Berlin compares Woodrow Wilson's emphasis on the need to educate university students for life in the real world with the difference between Oxford 'realism' and Cambridge 'idealism' in the nineteenth century. Oxford favoured a Wilsonian preference for general education over (but not to the exclusion of) pure scholarship, and Cambridge the cultivation of private life and personal relationships. Both universities were opposed to the excessive specialisation that Wilson deprecated.

Developing Participatory Approaches for Use in an Action Research Project with Teachers Who Support Children with Visual Impairment in Kenya and Uganda: reflections on the relational praxis between participants and research institutions

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Developing Participatory Approaches for Use in an Action Research Project with Teachers Who Support Children with Visual Impairment in Kenya and Uganda: reflections on the relational praxis between participants and research institutions
Author: PAUL LYNCH; MIKE McLINDEN; GRAEME DOUGLAS; MARY MUTURI; ASHER BAYO; MARTHA MWAURA; JOHN MUGA
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 282-295
ABSTRACT Participatory research is a broad term covering a range of approaches that are characterised by a focus on ‘action-oriented’ research involving researchers and participants working in collaboration to bring about positive change. These approaches emphasise engagement with co-researchers and the development and implementation of context-appropriate strategies that seek to empower and transform at a number of levels. This article explores the dynamics of a multi-agency and multinational research programme that investigated the working practices of specialist teachers of children with visual impairment in Uganda and Kenya. The research utilised a range of participatory methods, including workshops and a dedicated practice journal, to provide opportunities for participants to record information about their practice and share their experiences with colleagues. The article analyses the effectiveness of the approach, with a particular focus on the ‘relational praxis’ between the project partners. This analysis highlights the complex nature of the collaborative relationships when research is transnational and operates across cultural, social and environmental contexts. Considerations are offered for research design in this area.

Understanding Local Realities of Quality Education in Kenya: pupil, parent and teacher perspectives

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Understanding Local Realities of Quality Education in Kenya: pupil, parent and teacher perspectives
Author: A.J.C. CUNNINGHAM
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 296-341
ABSTRACT In 2003, UNICEF-Kenya and the Kenyan Ministry of Education introduced the 'Child Friendly Schools' initiative to encourage educational policy makers and practitioners to look for alternative ways to measure the quality of primary schools beyond pupils' test scores. In 2009, Kenyan government officials distributed the Child Friendly Schools Monitoring Toolkit (CMT) across all public primary schools, promoting it as an exercise in school self-evaluation for measuring educational quality. Senior education officials developed the CMT with 50 indicators for local stakeholders' use when measuring a school's level of child-friendliness. This study investigates the relevance of these 50 indicators to local perspectives of quality education. The study's findings suggest that the CMT's 50 indicators represent only 68% of what pupils, parents and teachers describe as factors that negatively or positively contribute to levels of child-friendliness in their schools. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach for data analysis, 33 'new' indicators for child-friendliness emerge from the participants' responses. The study compares and synthesizes these new categories with the 50 original CMT indicators by creating an 'Enhanced Child Friendly Schools Monitoring Toolkit' (ECMT) for implementation in Kenyan primary schools. The revised ECMT indicators appear to capture 93% of what pupils, parents and teachers describe as factors influencing a school's level of child-friendliness. In the end, the study's findings call for a renewed dialogue between top-down and bottom-up perspectives of quality education in determining future criteria for measuring the levels of child- friendliness across Kenyan public primary schools.

Comparative Study of University and Polytechnic Graduates in Finland: implications of higher education on earnings

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Comparative Study of University and Polytechnic Graduates in Finland: implications of higher education on earnings
Author: BELLE SELENE XIA; ELIA LIITIÄINEN; MIKA REKOLA
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 342-351
ABSTRACT This study explores the implications of higher education on earnings in Finland. The challenges as well as opportunities of obtaining a university degree as compared to graduating from polytechnics are evaluated using the REFLEX (The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society) data. As a Nordic country, Finland is known for its educated population and the public emphasis on continuous learning but, nevertheless, there has been comparatively little research published internationally. The authors address the criticisms and drawbacks of higher education by analysing the performance of Finnish graduates in the labour market using the analysis of covariances. While debates concerning additional financing for higher education persist, it is acknowledged to be one of the solutions to the aging population and related economic problems in Finland. Based on the results from various Finnish educational institutions, the authors analyse the degree of match between investment in human capital and market demand.

An Investigation of Factors Impacting the Motivation of German and US Teachers to Become School Principals

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: An Investigation of Factors Impacting the Motivation of German and US Teachers to Become School Principals
Author: DAWSON R. HANCOCK; CHRISTINE HARY; ULRICH MÜLLER
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 352-363
ABSTRACT School principals play a pivotal role in establishing the direction for successful schools. Unfortunately, significant challenges to recruiting and retaining highly qualified school leaders exist in many regions of the world. Extending the findings of a recent quantitative study comparing the influence of motivators and inhibitors that impact German and US teachers' decisions to become principals, researchers in the current study interviewed selected teachers to determine the reasons for their responses. Similarities and differences in the respondents' perceptions of factors that influenced their desire to become school leaders are reported. The findings offer important ways in which Germany and the USA may learn from each other's practices.

Discourses and Policies on Educational Quality in Argentina, 1990-2010

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Discourses and Policies on Educational Quality in Argentina, 1990-2010
Author: JORGE M. GOROSTIAGA; ADRIÁN FERREIRA
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 364-375
ABSTRACT This article analyses the relationships between different notions of education quality and policies on primary and secondary schools implemented in Argentina during the last two decades. The authors focus on three moments: (1) the emergence of the discussion about quality (at the end of the 1980s) in Latin America and in Argentina; (2) the enactment and implementation of the Federal Law of Education (1993); and (3) the enactment of the Law of National Education (2006), along with the implementation of some key policies.

Teachers' Perceptions of their Work Environment in Swedish Junior High Schools

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 10:36:14 GMT

Title: Teachers' Perceptions of their Work Environment in Swedish Junior High Schools
Author: MARA WESTLING ALLODI; SIV FISCHBEIN
Journal: Research in Comparative and International Education
Year: 2012 Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Pages: 376-393
ABSTRACT The aims of this study were to explore the organisational characteristics of junior high schools, to identify typologies of work environments and to explore the relationships between the type of work environment and how schools function. The educational profession and the role of teachers have been influenced by policies inspired by the principles of new public management (NPM). The Swedish version of the Organizational Checkup Survey is a general and expanded version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The present work analyses the 16 items concerning energy, involvement and accomplishment ('Relations to Work') and the 29 items concerning workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values ('Fields of Work'). The answers from 749 Swedish junior high school teachers from a stratified selection of 32 schools were analysed with a structural equation modelling approach. The means of the answers from the teachers from the same school were dichotomised and analysed with partial order scalogram analysis. The polarising variables contributing to the identification of four main profiles were reward and workload. There were gender differences: female teachers were more exhausted, felt more involved and were more dissatisfied with their workload than male teachers. There were also age differences, the younger teachers reporting, in particular, lower professional autonomy (control). The results show relevant differences between schools, and that teachers' perceptions of their work environment can be considered an indicator of school quality. The results of the comparisons are related to the conditions of high efficiency and deprofessionalisation of NPM-inspired educational organisations, and indicate a possible link between school organisation and teachers' perceptions of reward.