The author describes the practice of apartheid in South Africa, particularly as it affects education at all levels. Topics discussed include interracial tensions, sanctions by other countries, and education's role in social change. (CH)

Asks whether virtues such as liberalism, autonomy, and individual development represent the best basis to resist the centralizing attempts of Margaret Thatcher's administration. Argues that it is characteristic of liberalism to fail to recognize either that it is historically located, or that it is itself an ideology. (RS)

Cross-national educational policy "borrowing" seldom has much to do with successful implementation of particular policies in their countries of origin; rather, it has to do with legitimating other related policies. Discusses similarities and differences between the United States and Great Britain with regard to school choice policies and…

Concerned with Stephen Ball's theoretical and empirical contribution to contemporary "education policy sociology," this article examines the efficacy of his theoretical eclecticism, highlighting incompatibilities in his interpretation and application of certain social and political theorists. Ball's representation of the policy cycle, as…

A government is a complex system of competing factions that adopts a decentralization policy when the dominant group sees current government structures or procedures as an obstacle to the realization of group interests. Case studies of educational decentralization in Peru, Chile, and Mexico demonstrate that the "state" tends to share…

Public education in the U.S. has failed miserably. A substantial reason for this is that parents are not empowered to shape the course of their children's education. Under a system of choice, schools will improve, having to compete to survive. This paper argues that the responsibility for education should be devolved from the state and vested in…

Constant attention by all Americans is needed to preserve what little local control in education remains. Chief among dangerous federal legislation moving the country toward a federal education system is the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The paper examines Goals 2000 and other federal legislation that seeks to remove parental control, noting…

Liberty University (Virginia) will send 3,000 students on a religious studies tour in Israel to visit sites important to Christianity. The program, the result of an alliance between Jerry Falwell and Binyamin Netanyahu, is designed both to show support for Netanyahu's policies and to raise the international profile of the university. (MSE)

Discusses educators' responses to the attempts to take over the educational system by the government of Ontario, Canada. Discusses the background to the crisis, the "Final Straw" (Bill 160), public relations and the largest work stoppage by educators in North America (October, 1997), and lessons learned from the political protests. (RS)

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, has become a symbol of all things good and bad in education. While the basic concepts of the legislation--accountability for results, research-based education programs, increased parental options, and expanded local control and…

In this paper, the author looks at the state of adult education in Ireland. He is suggesting that the state here means both the condition in which one now finds adult education and the role of the Irish State in adult education. He briefly outlines some recent developments in adult education, makes some critical comments on the state of adult…

Higher education in Flanders has seen some major changes in the 1990s. One of the key elements of the new higher education regulations was the quality assessment system. This exemplified best the government's policy of granting all institutions of higher education autonomy, making them responsible for their policies, while still keeping the…

Should a liberal democratic state permit religious schools? Should it fund them? What principles should govern these decisions in a society marked by religious and cultural pluralism? In "Faith in Schools?", Ian MacMullen tackles these important questions through both political and educational theory, and he reaches some surprising and provocative…

This paper addresses the question of the assessment of faculty job performance at American colleges and universities, examining historical and current trends in faculty evaluation. It reviews the concept of faculty evaluation in the colonial period through the 20th century, focusing on recent efforts to hold faculty more accountable for their job…

During the Perth meeting of the Australian Education Council (AEC) on July 1-2, 1993, policy making power shifted from the AEC to the states and from Labor to non-Labor ministers. Labor ministerial power directed public education through much of the 1980s, when the rhetoric of national partnership was all-pervasive. At the July conference, the…