This essay begins with the premise that Italo Calvino's Memos serve as a fundamentally educational proposition. Each of his lectures can be regarded as a substantive proposal, encouraging a revaluation of our contemporary world through unconventional forms of knowledge, especially considering the challenges posed by the new millennium. The essay's…

In today's world this gap between the richest and the poorest is constantly widening. This paper aims to examine the impact of this economic inequality on the quality of education in two selected European countries--Poland and Finland. The choice of countries is not accidental: Finland was chosen because it has one of the best-rated education…

Few practical guidelines exist for conducting generic qualitative research (GQR) with rigor and intentional purpose. This article offers varied purposes of GQR (practicality and creating change, flexible blending of methods, and innovation) and pragmatic guidance for counselor educators and doctoral students conceptualizing, designing, and…

This book explores Learning Analytics (LA) programmes and practices in Malaysia as well as looking at the underlying forces, dilemmas and policy challenges for quality assurance in higher education institutions (HEIs). This chapters provide a comprehensive discussion of trends in academic quality assurance in higher education. It articulates a…

This chapter explores the limitations of measuring teaching quality through observation of "observable behaviors" and argues for a more holistic approach to educational development that focuses on the richness of pedagogical qualities.

Time is an omnipresent key dimension in everyone's life, yet academic time has only recently found scholarly attention. The temporal aspects of quality assurance, in particular, are basically unchartered territory. Taking a chronopolitical perspective, this article aims to close the gap, by critically examining how temporalities are firmly…

This case study of one primary school's inspection journey over 20 years highlights serious concerns about Ofsted's education inspection framework and modus operandi in relation to safeguarding. Ofsted's proposed changes to inspection practice following school inspections are also discussed.

Children's early education experiences are rarely high quality when changes to policy and practice are knee jerk and made in response to politicised anger and frustration. Changes to education inspection systems deliver when they are grounded in evidence-informed practice. What matters is that the inspection process supports practitioners in…

In England and Wales, diocesan inspectors are charged with assessing the overall quality of Catholic education provided by Catholic schools. As part of this assessment, inspectors are required to give an account of the liturgical life of the school. Often the reports which result from these inspections refer to the degree of students' "active…

Despite steady investment to improve early childhood progammes in recent years, many Jamaican early childhood institutions are ill-prepared or unable to adequately meet the developmental needs of children for a number of reasons. Such schools are often labelled as failing or low quality. While teachers and schools are often blamed for this, an…

This article analyses and reflects on the ethical aspects of using artificial intelligence (AI) systems in educational contexts. On the one hand, the impact of AI in the field of education is addressed from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically, SDG4) of the UNESCO 2030 Agenda, describing the opportunities for its use…

This article is an effort to unveil how colonialism gets inscribed in research education initiatives during peace-building. To this end, we look behind the scenes of an education development project that sought to support a rural school in consolidating high-quality education during Colombia's recent peace process. We examine how, in our roles as…

Creating a coherent, high-quality curriculum--one that all teachers in a school or department use--can narrow gaps and raise overall achievement. Mike Schmoker makes the case for the primacy of curriculum and describes a process teacher teams can use to create a common, high-quality curriculum.

Philadelphia's Preschool Program (PHLpreK) has recently concluded its seventh year, following its initiation after a 2015 referendum approving the creation of a universal pre-K program for children ages 3 and 4. NIEER has been evaluating the program since its inception, focusing on program quality, components, and children's learning and…

The Initial Teacher Training Market Review was released at the end of the most tumultuous of academic years. In spite of a claim to offer the promise of 'world- class training', the proposals, if enacted, have the potential to force out many with genuine expertise in teacher education. Written during the seven-week review consultation period, this…