Today's world may be characterised as the dawn of the new millennium of the learning society, where knowledge is considered as a country's most valued asset and primary source of power. In the increasingly intense competition among international communities, Thailand has been respected for advancing the concept of transforming communities, cities…

This single case study examines how stakeholders of a local education agency (LEA) understand and implement state turnaround policy for its chronically underperforming schools. While there is ample research on how to improve chronically underperforming schools, a research gap exists specifically around addressing implementation of mandated…

Exploiting variation in welfare reform across states and over time and using relevant comparison groups, this study estimates the effects of welfare reform on an important source of human capital acquisition among women at risk for relying on welfare: vocational education and training. The results indicate that welfare reform reduced enrollment in…

This paper considers dilemmas around "value" and the "valuing" of children and childhood(s) in schools. I argue that in neo-liberal contexts, processes of children's identity making become aligned with the idea of the corporate citizen--value and worth derived from the capacity to produce, excel, self-regulate as well as…

It is indisputable that teachers and principals have the greatest impact on student learning. Unfortunately, the education system has hired and tenured thousands of ineffective teachers and principals, particularly in high-poverty urban and rural schools. As a consequence, these schools have low levels of student learning. To remedy this problem,…

To shore up the $46 billion pension debt the state has accrued over the past several decades, Illinois has been using its teachers as a piggy bank. New legislation adopted in December 2013 will raise the retirement age for mid-career workers and limit the amount retiree pensions can increase with inflation over time. State and national union…

Taiwan has undertaken a series of cross-border collaboration with China for the past two decades. This paper aims to investigate the Taiwanese approach and policies of educational collaboration with China in a globalized context, where international competitiveness has become a great concern for most countries. It also examines how the Taiwanese…

Education policy-making in Australia remains one of the most complex of government's responsibilities, affecting a broad spectrum of social and political advancements of national and international importance. The advancement of education policy has been accepted as a key factor in achieving the labour productivity and innovation capacity that are…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon of gifted migrants in vocational training and education. To date, migrant apprentices have been predominantly discussed from a deficit perspective. Special attention has been given to competence insufficiency and underperformance, as well as to migrant adolescents' lack of professional…

Over the last few decades, the idea that education should function to promote economic progress has played a major role in shaping educational policy. So far, however, philosophers of education have shown relatively little interest in analysing this notion and its implications. The present article critically examines, from a philosophical…

This study applies theories of globalization, 21st century skills, and project based learning to explore the Costa Rican National Science Fair and its role in building human capital and preparing students for 21st century jobs, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. This qualitative study captured the…

This work examines the congruence and incongruence in policy and practice in education sector development effort for Africa. The focus is on the role of human agency in defining policy and practice. The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) put the theoretical orientations that have been used to explain the…

The primary purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate the causes of educational poverty in less developed countries. The basic intent in carrying out such a study is to define and derive the role of governing agencies in deliberately creating educational poverty in the country, so that the private interest of the rich and powerful ruling…

The World Bank is clearly one of the most influential global intergovernmental operators for international development assistance. In recent decades, the Bank and other agencies have invested immense technical and financial resources in a troubled and unprecedented mission of revitalizing and restructuring the development of education in Africa. A…

This paper presents a comparative discourse analysis of the learning support policy in New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand. The dominant discourses in both policies are identified and analysed in terms of how they determine the manner in which students experiencing difficulties with learning are included in schools. It is argued that the…