The purpose of this review was to organize the results of studies conducted during the last 18 years into a body of knowledge concerning the link between physical education (PE) and academic achievement (AA). Such knowledge may help in clarifying the role of PE in the schools, whose main focus is on improving the AA of the children. The term PE is…

In this paper, I develop a critique of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-based lifelong learning policy discourse with a particular focus on "key competencies" (KCs) and its equity implications for school curricular policies. First, I review the discussion of KCs in the writings by the OECD-affiliated…

Over the past three decades, educators have faced an increasing variety of reform proposals that can best be contextualized as efforts to commodify and privatize public education. While supporters of market-based reforms attempt to place these proposals within education theory, they are in reality firmly entrenched in neoliberal economic theory.…

Identifies problems encountered in educational evaluation--particularly in areas of curriculum evaluation and assessment of student achievement. Explains how idiographic methods (derived from interpretative disciplines like history which center on intensive study of the individual) can help educators evaluate student learning. (DB)

Several decades ago it was shown that the differentiation of pupils into tracks and streams led to a polarization into "anti-school" and "pro-school" cultures. Support for this differentiation-polarization theory is mainly based on case studies. This paper presents findings of a quantitative study in Belgium (Flanders).…