This article addresses the inherent tension in the Bologna process between the aim of convergence and the will to maintain the diversity of national higher education (HE) systems, as well as the decentralised and autonomous nature of national policy formulation on Bologna reforms. Starting from an analytical discussion of the concepts of…

The authors have been investigating universities in their own countries for many years and are now turning their attention to exploring alternatives to current reforms. As part of these investigations, they spent two days of interviews and meetings at Mondragon, a town in Gipuzkoa in the Spanish Basque Country. Mondragon is at the centre of one of…

Using the experience of the Educational Quality Inputs (EQI) Scheme in Sri Lanka the paper examines the distributional aspects of formula-based funding and efficiency of decentralized management of education funds in a developing country setting. The study finds that the EQI fund distribution is largely pro-poor. However, results show that to…

Literature that discusses transformative change in schools typically draws on experiences of renewal and change in existing schools. This report explores the shaping of a new school with the intent, established at the very outset, of offering a curriculum for the 21st century. The report discusses four key aspects of curriculum innovation at this…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 findings highlighted concerns about reading literacy teaching quality in South African primary schools (Howie et al., 2007). In response, the national Department of Education (DoE, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d) has emphasised instructional practice improvement. However, little…

Purpose: This study seeks to explore the moderating role of teachers' personality traits from the Big Five typology on the relationship between participative management and teacher outcomes with respect to performance, satisfaction and strain. The study suggests that participative management may produce different results depending on teachers'…

The new Social Studies curriculum recently introduced in Alberta proposes to encourage students to affirm their place as citizens in a democratic society. Grounded in Biesta's (2007) argument that regardless of a Program of Studies' best stated goals and intentions, if a school is not structured democratically the chances of the program being…

This article explores the case of a Vietnamese teacher whose conception of teaching changed greatly following a short but intensive series of lessons based on the Japanese experiences with atomic bombs. The following three issues are considered: 1) what types of efforts teachers should make to increase the depth of their lessons, on the basis of…

Realists recognize reorganizations for what they are: opportunities to do things better--to change business as usual to reflect best practices, new tools and technologies, and current challenges in the marketplace. At educational institutions, perhaps no area is as sensitive to those shifts as communications and marketing offices. The advances in…

Controversial faculty reassignments and resignations in March have left the Middle East Center at the University of Utah in turmoil. The problems come only a year before the university must reapply for the grant from the U.S. Department of Education that supports the center, which is among the oldest such academic units in the country. The…

This article identifies Alec Clegg as the leading figure behind the English middle-school movement from the late 1960s. It is argued that the rise of middle schools was sustained by Clegg's astute understanding, which he transmitted to other local education authorities, that the political imperative of comprehensive reorganisation need not…

This article analyses reforms addressing and affecting the curriculum and organisation of Swedish upper secondary education over 40 years, up to an initiative by the present non-socialist government. The aim is to analyse the current reform of upper secondary education and relate it to previous reforms during a 40-year period in terms of…

This article shows that an ethnically diverse student population leads to blurred ethnic and racial boundaries in high schools. Still, students in New York distinguish themselves much more along ethnic and racial lines than do London students. The evidence presented suggests that, in addition to national-level differences, traditional British…

Complementary education programs have emerged as a useful tool for addressing the educational needs of marginalized communities in the developing world. The literature attributes the success of these complementary education programs to innovative school organization, curriculum development, and community participation. This article is based on a…

This paper explores the impacts of proposed school closures on families in rural communities in the South Taranaki region of New Zealand. We situate this instance of educational restructuring in a critical policy context and present an account of its regional unfolding through drawing on local media coverage. We then interpret narratives gathered…