The first of two volumes dedicated to this little-explored topic, this volume gathers international perspectives to critically assess how Waldorf education has been perceived and discussed in both public and academic arenas. The book thereby challenges the historical concept of Waldorf education as an international movement championing…

The current social and educational challenges force us to rethink the role of educational institutions and digital technologies in the 21st century, which requires a deeper understanding of learning activities in schools. In this article we analyze bottom-up initiatives for educational transformation implemented in public lower secondary schools…

Worldwide, teacher educators and policy makers have called for teacher preparation that is more deeply linked to practice. Yet we know little about how such linkages are achieved within different international programs. We examine the degree to which programs provide opportunities to learn that are grounded in practice, during university…

With the policy of developing a transparent and competitive European higher education sector, learning outcomes (LOs) are attributed a foundation stone role in policy and curriculum development. A premise for their implementation is that they bear fundamental similarities across national, institutional or professional/disciplinary contexts. In…

The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 (E2030) project's overall goal is that of looking to the future in terms of how school curricula should evolve given the technological advances and other changes that societies are now facing. Towards that end, the E2030 project centres on the idea that education needs to equip students with the…

The present study focuses on exploring the relationships of preschool staff and children with language difficulties in Norwegian and Belarusian contexts. A qualitative case design was used, and data were gathered through video observations and video-based conversations. Through different approaches--narrative analysis and analysis of…

This joint OECD-ILO publication provides guidance on how local and regional governments can foster business-education partnerships in apprenticeship programmes and other types of work-based learning, drawing on case studies across nine countries. There has been increasing interest in apprenticeships which combine on the job training with…

It has been a key goal to achieve equity in education in Australia and Norway over the last 50 years. This article offers a historical case-oriented comparative analysis of the promotion of equity in education in these 2 countries. While equity in education is primarily understood as students' learning outcomes in national and international tests,…

This book addresses central questions regarding parental involvement across European educational systems; exploring the commonalities and differences across European countries and the extent to which current policy and practice pertaining to parental involvement is inclusive of diversity. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that draws from the…

Background: PISA results appear to have a large impact upon government policy. The phenomenon is growing, with more countries taking part in PISA testing and politicians pointing to PISA results as reasons for their reforms. Purpose: The aims of this research were to depict the policy reactions to PISA across a number of jurisdictions, to see…

Previous papers in this issue of "JCS" have presented case studies of the state-based curriculum commissions that developed the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 and Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997" ("L97") (1997). The studies were developed using as a framework a body of German research that sees…

In this article we present an embedded case study focused on the learning activities provided for and by us through our involvement in an international forum focused on the professional development of teacher educators. The aim of this research was to gain more insight into the complicated processes of professional learning across national…

Coherence of national education and training systems is increasingly tabled in European policy debates. Leaning on literature about the emergence and consolidation of national education systems, this article explores the rationale for VET reforms in Norway and Spain by scrutinising attempts to strengthen the coherence of their VET systems.…

The idea of having a "Compare" Forum focusing on the above title was first discussed with one of the Editors of "Compare" during a PhD defence in Oslo in 2011. The PhD dissertation itself was linked to a larger project in which researchers from the North (Norway) and the South (South Africa) had been collaborating in…

The number of online programs in the higher education sector has increased dramatically in the last decade, and with it, an increase in attrition has become a recurring problem worldwide. Literature suggests that elements of culture, motivation, learning management systems and online pedagogy play a major role in attrition rates in the higher…