According to our initial assumption, there would be two characteristic strategies for Romani catching up. One strategy is to lift the Romanies out of poverty and bring their living conditions closer to the average living conditions of the majority society. According to the other strategy, Romanies create a national minority in the majority…

Kosovo introduced two major curriculum reforms over the past 20 years -- in 2001 and 2011 -- each aiming to bring education closer to international trends. Simultaneously, Kosovo underwent major political, social, and cultural changes after the war in 1999, and the declaration of independence in 2008. This article relies on document analysis and…

In 1932, with the help of the League of Nations, the Chinese government sent an educational mission consisting of five scholars to Europe, in order to investigate education in different countries as reference points for ongoing Chinese educational reform. This article argues that educators in the mission used foreign examples to support their…

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has long been considered a global policy in language education. It has been borrowed and adopted by different polities across the world. However, it is still not clear why the CEFR, intended for European usage, has become a ubiquitous tool for overhauling the quality of teaching and…

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the human capital theory tenets hold in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) that transitioned from socialist regimes to a market-based economy. The modeling approach relied on 18 years (1994-2012) of country level data collected from the World Bank, in order to explore whether the increase…

The Step by Step Program was designed to introduce child-centered teaching strategies and parent and community involvement in early childhood education systems in countries of the former Soviet bloc, where rapid social, economic, and political transformations were taking place. This study assessed the program's capacity, reach, and sustainability.…

Considers two dimensions of changes in former Soviet Union countries: (1) obstacles to transformations away from strong state domination; and (2) contrasting approaches in public administration education to facilitate democratic development in these countries. (JOW)

Divided into seven sections, the presentations contained in these proceedings give an international perspective on the growth of democracy in the world, and the many obstacles that might inhibit it. The first section, on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union contains papers from four East Block scholars who discuss the rise of democracy in communist…

The imperatives and complexities of introducing human rights principles at primary and secondary school levels in postcommunist societies are presented, focusing on presentation of concepts of individualism, democracy, and human rights in textbooks; teaching practices that reinforce learner-centered approaches; and consideration of a national…

Portrays the changed context of adult education in Central and Eastern Europe; social and individual learning needs such as training, retraining, upgrading, education for responsible citizenship, and adult educator training; and assistance needed from abroad. (SK)

The article reports on efforts of scholars (including historians, political scientists, economists, and sociologists) to study the economic and political transformation taking place in Eastern Europe. Noted are analogies with Latin American development, difficulties of privatization, and contradictions between democracy and economic reform. (DB)

The authors contend that the impact of the Cold War on multilateral organizations (especially UNESCO) as well as on the academic programs in Comparative and International Education or Development Studies in Education has been largely understudied. Both world-systems (USA and its allies, Soviet Union and its allies) laid claim on the project of…

Calls for educational reforms are an important part of the new political agenda in eastern and central Europe, with reforms concerning higher education particularly profound. One of the greatest departures from tradition is the deideologization of social science and research, and a search for a postsocialist model of higher education. (MSE)

Food production in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is described; the opportunities and limitations of the region's land resources for agriculture are examined; and the evolution of the institutional structures of agriculture are discussed. Recent developments to improve the food supply are outlined. (RM)

Characterizes influences of the economic and political climate on universities and students in western Europe. As a result of university budget cuts, unemployment among educated youth, and increases in the cost of living, university students are experiencing a sense of uselessness, lost status, and confused identity. (Author/DB)