The objective of the study is to provide a comparative analysis of how school autonomy is implemented in 30 countries of the Eurydice Network at this time and to gain a fuller understanding of the processes that have led to the devolution of decision-making powers to schools and how schools are held accountable for their responsibilities to higher…

A large study in the United Kingdom of support options for deaf and hearing-impaired children was conducted between 1998 and 2001. Findings have been reported on prevalence, demography, auditory performance, communication skills, educational achievements, and quality of life, costs including costs of compulsory education and costs incurred by…

In this paper, the authors discuss the influence of democracy and law on music education in Sweden and Finland, and the potential for music education as training in democracy. The latter consideration can be instructive regardless of the nation, or its laws and paradigms of music education. The theoretical background is based on Jurgen Habermas'…

Since 2002, adult numeracy specifications have been introduced for the first time in England. This article investigates the relevance of Bernstein and Shulman's theoretical frameworks to teacher training using the new Level 4 adult numeracy teacher training programmes as an example. The article discusses Bernstein's theories relating to pedagogic…

A considerable body of scholarship has examined the history of compulsory attendance in the United States in an effort to explain why compulsory attendance laws were enacted, what effects they had on school attendance rates, and what made enforcement of these laws effective eventually. Recent research has revealed that some long-standing…

Education in European countries is subject to many competing demands which have an influence on the organisation and content of arts education. Increasing globalisation has brought both benefits and challenges, including those arising from increased international competition, migration and multiculturalism, advancements in technology and the…

The Millennium Development Goal 2 has a target of ensuring that, by 2015, all children will complete a full course of primary schooling. This is consistent with the second goal of the Dakar Framework of Action for Education for All [EFA] that pre-dated it, except that the Dakar goal qualifies the Millennium Goal with "compulsory education of…

This highly acclaimed volume in the "Defending Public Schools" series is now available in paperback from Teachers College Press. It is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policymakers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth. This…

The education and care of children is traditionally a family duty in the Hungarian culture. This is especially true for small (under 3 years) children. This is well transcribed into the social-welfare system: the child care allowance is paid for the mother for up to the second birthday of the child. Even after there is another kind of allowance…

Outcomes based education (OBE), which emphasises a radical reinterpretation of the enterprise of education, is a phenomenon enveloping the Australian compulsory education sector. This paper examines the theoretical tenets of OBE as articulated by its chief exponent, William Spady. It then explores the effects that OBE implementation is having on…

Literacy efforts in China have the following characteristics: (1) awareness of the necessity to eliminate illiteracy; (2) active participation of all levels; (3) combination of literacy education with skills acquisition; (4) emphasis on efficiency; and (5) compulsory schooling and prevention and follow-up efforts among the young. (SK)

The Second Meeting of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opened in Beijing at 3:00 P.M. on March 3, 2004, and closed on the afternoon of March 12. The Second Meeting of the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) opened on March 5, 2004, in Beijing and closed on the afternoon of March 14…

This research explores the attitudes of parents and teenagers towards the proposals in the "Raising expectations" Green Paper. It is based on a public opinion poll of 920 parents and 380 teenagers in the United Kingdom, which ran between 30 March and 10 April 2007. The results were analysed by Learning and Skills Network statisticians.…

The English Learning and Skills Sector (LSS) contains a highly diverse range of learners and covers all aspects of post-16 learning with the exception of higher education. In the research on which this paper is based we are concerned with the effects of policy on three types of learners--unemployed adults attempting to improve their basic skills…

The article argues that the local authority attendance officers responsible for the enforcement of compulsory attendance changed their approach to truancy under the influence of child welfare legislation and changing views of the child in the first decade of the twentieth century. Some of the changes in their work emerged as a direct response to…